Method of making welt shoes



Nov. 25, 1941'. N BILL 2,263,671

METHOD OF MAKING WELT SHOES Filed Jan. 26, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /5 $6 I //VVE/\/TU/F WWZL/ 45% Nov. 25, 194-1. MIJ. BILL 2,263,671

METHOD OF MAKING WELT SHOES Filed Jan. 26, 194G 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 25, 1941 UNIT'EDTSTATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF MAKING WELT SHOES Martin J. Bill, Chicago, Ill., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Borough of Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 26, 1940, Serial No. 315,783 4 Claims. (Cl. 12-142) This invention relates to improvements in methods of shoemaking and is herein illustrated and described as applied to the manufacture of welted shoes.

In the usual method of making a welt shoe, an insole having an upstanding rib on its attaching face, i. e., the side opposite-the foot facing side, is tacked to the bottom of a last and an upper is pulled over the last and temporarily tacked in place. The shoe is then lasted during the course of which the upper is tensioned over the last and secured at least temporarily to the insole. After these operations have been completed, a welt is stitched to the upper and rib, and the inseam thus formed is trimmed to pre pare the shoe to receive an outsole.

In order to enable a proper grip to be obtained on the upper when it is being tensioned during lasting, the upper is out quite full with considerable excess lasting allowance. After thewelting has been completed, however, this excess has no further use and so during the inseam trimming it is cut away as waste. In view of this waste, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of making welt shoes whereby the upper may be cut to'exact size without surplus lasting allowance, thereby effectinga substantial saving in upper materials. y

It has also been found that a large number of lasts must be used in welt shoemaking because of the large number of operations that must be performed while the shoe is still on the last. It is, therefore, a further object of the present invention to decrease the number of operations which must be performed under such conditions and thus to decrease the number of lasts which a-manufacturer now requires in order to keep all the departments of his factory running steadily.

With these objects in view, the invention contemplates improvements in methods of making welt shoes which comprise providing an insole having a lasting rib about the periphery of its forepart and shank, providing an upper cut to exact size with no surplus lasting allowance, assembling the upper and insole oifthe last with the edge of the upper even with the edge of the rib, securing the upper and rib together, and subsequently inserting a lastin the assembly. In order to simplify the assembly of the upper and insole oif the last, provision isalso made for the use of a short insole which is supplemented by a reinforcing piece secured to the foot facing side of the insole after the upper and insole have been fastened together. Alternatively, theinsole 55 may be cut away or rabbeted at its heel end to receive the flange of a molded counter, a reinforcing piecebeing secured to the foot facing side of the insole after the assembly of the upper and insole.

The invention will be better understood when considered in relation to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the upper;

Fig. 2 shows the molded box toe;

Fig. 3 illustrates the box toe inserted in the upper;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the insole;

Fig. 5 illustrates the molded counter which may be used in the shoe;

Fig. 6 is a View of the heel end of a partially made shoe embodying a molded and flanged counter; i 1

Fig. '7 is a cross section of the heel end of a shoe employing a straight, unflanged counter and showing the counter and upper being lasted in over the insole;

Fig. 8 is a view of the side of the shoe, a portion being broken away to show a longitudinal section of the heel end; and

Fig. 9 is a cross section at the ball portion of the completed shoe. I As illustrated in the drawings, an upper having an outer layer III of leather or other suitable material and having a lining l2 and doubler I4 is provided. This upper is assembled in the customary manner and is cut to exact size with no surplus lasting margin, that is, only sufficient material is allowed so that when assembled the upper will extend over the feather l5 of the insole and lie against the rib, with its edge even with the top of the rib.

The upper is also provided with the usual box toe l6 and counter 18. Preferably and asillustrated, the box toe is of moldable fibrous material such as leatherboard or fiberboard so that it may be given a permanent shape before being incorporated in a shoe, although, of course, any we1l-known type of stiffener material may be employed. A flange 20 may be formed at the lower edge of the box toe so that when the insole and the upper are assembled the stiff margin of the box toe will conform to that portion of the insole adjacent thereto. A coat of cement is then applied to the box toe, preferably on both sides, and it is inserted between the outer layer l0 and the doubler M with its rearward edges coincident with notches 22 or other markings previously.

made inlthe outer layer of the-upper to indicate the position of the box toe. When the box toe 2 has been properly located, the doubler i4 is pressed against it so that at the toe end the outer layer of the upper, the box toe and the doubler are all united.

The counter I8 is assembled with the upper in a similar manner, being cemented in its proper position between the outer layer I of the upper and the lining l2. The counter may, as illustrated in Fig. 5, have a molded flange 24 or a straight counter 25 of the type illustrated in Fig. '7 may be used. The insole 26 may be f the type usually employed in welt shoes, having an upstanding rib 28 which extends from the breast line around the toe end of the shoe and back to the breast line on the other side, and which is reinforced by a layer of canvas 30. Near the toe end of the insole, there are placed two marks 32 corresponding to the rear edge of the toe box which assist in assembling the upper and the insole in proper relation to one another.

Occasionally some difficult may be experienced in assembling the upper and insole because of the tendency of the upper to retain its approximately oval shape. In such condition the lengthwise dimension of the upper is shorter than that of the insole, and consequently the heel end of the insole binds against the upper and prevents the two parts from being moved relative to one another when the upper and the rib are being fastened together. When a molded counter is used, this difiiculty may be overcome by cutting the insole somewhat shorter than it would customarily be, so that when the two units are brought together the insole will not completely fill the space at the heel end of the upper. In such case it will be found desirable to insert a filler members 34 the rearwardedge of which may be beveled, as indicated at 35 (Figs. 6 and 8) and a heel reinforcing piece or base 36 after the insole and upper have been fastened together. This heel piece is placed on the inside of the innersole in a position somewhat similar to a heel pad. Preferably its forward end is skived so that it will not cause an irregularity in the shoe bottom. The reinforcing piece 36 may advantageously be secured to the insole by the heel seat fastenings or by cement. If a straight counter and a full insole are used, the heel end of the insole may be turned back on itself and temporarily secured in such position where it will not interfere with the assembling of the upper with the insole. The heel end of the insole may also be cut away or rabbeted as indicated at 38 in Fig. 4. When the heel end is so rabbeted, the flange 24 of the counter will lie in the groove about the edge of the insole.

The upper and insole are now in condition to be fastened together in proper relation to one another. To accomplish this the operator inserts the insole in the upper, being careful to bring the rear edges of the box toe and the notches 22 into proper registration with the marks 32. He brings the margin of the upper in against the lasting rib 28 so that the upper edge of the rib and the edge of the upper are even. Staples 40 are then driven through the multi-layered upper and through the rib to hold these two parts together. It will be found preferable to begin the stapling at or near the toe end of the shoe and to work progressively toward the heel breast line, tensioning the upper lengthwise of the shoe slightly, as each staple is driven. The staples may advantageously be driven alternately, one or two at a time, first on one side of the shoe, then on the other, and so on along the entire length of the shoe so that both sides of the shoe will be finished at approximately the same time. Thus, there will be no danger that the insole and upper will be twisted relative to one another.

It is to be noted that by so uniting the upper and insole off the last, the girth measurement of the shoe is made dependent on two factors: first, the size of the upper; and second, securing the upper and insole together in some definite relation. Since the upper is cut to exact size, and is stapled to the insole rib with its edge even with the edge of the rib, the girth measurement may be determined exactly before the shoe is assembled in accordance with the requirements of the last to be used.

If a molded counter is being used, the heel ends of the upper and insole may be secured together at this time, that is, while the shoe is not on the last. This may be effected in any convenient manner such as by staples. If a straight counter has been used, however, a last L is first inserted in the shoe and the heel end may then be lasted in any well-known manner with tacks 42. Such a step will, of course, form the desired flange 43 on the counter.

The shoe is now on the last in the same condition that it would be in if it had been manufactured according to the ordinary process followed in making welt shoes. A welt 44 may be fastened to the upper and the rib of the insole by inseam stitches 46 and an outsole 48 attached to the welt in the usual manner, a filler 50 of any suitable type being previously applied to the area within the rib of the insole. It may be noted here that when the upper is stapled to the rib, this operation is performed rather close to the top edge of the rib. Thus when the last is inserted, the upper material will bridge from the staples to the edge of the feather of the insole. When the welting is stitched on, however, the inseam stitches 46 pull the upper material down close to the base of the rib and thus tension the upper over the last to some extent, somewhat in the manner described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,168,498, granted August 8, 1939, on the application of L. C. Smith and W. Bertrand.

From this point onward the procedure does not vary from that usually followed in welt shoes. The method, however, enables the manufacturer to make a substantial saving in upper leather due to the elimination of the excess lasting allowance needed in pulling over and lasting as practised according to the ordinary welt shoe methods and also reduces the amount of time which the shoe must spend on the last. The manufacturer thus needs a smaller number of lasts to keep his factory operating steadily in all departments.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in methods of making welted shoes which comprises providing an insole having a lasting rib about the periphery of its forepart and shank, providing an upper cut to exact size and registering no surplus lasting allowance, assembling the upper and insole off the last with the edge of the upper with the edge of the rib, initially securing said upper and rib together by inserting fastenings near the upper edge of the rib, subsequently inserting a last in the assembly thereby tensioning the upper and causing it to bridge from said fastenings to the edge of the insole, and then permanently securing the upper to the rib together with a welt by inseam stitching, thereby pulling the upper down close to the base of the rib to increase the tension of the upper.

2. That improvement in methods of making welted shoes which comprises providing an insole having a lasting rib about the periphery of its forepart and shank and having a short heel portion, providing an upper cut to exact size with no surplus lasting allowance, assembling the upper and insole with the edge of the upper even with the edge of the rib, securing said upper and rib together, inserting a filler rearwardly of the short heel portion of the insole thereby extending the heel portion of the insole to full length, securing the upper to the insole at the heel end, subsequently inserting a last in the assembly, securing the upper to the rib together with a welt by inseam stitching, and attaching an outsole.

3. That improvement in methods of making welted shoes which comprises providing a short insole having a lasting rib about the periphery of its forepart and shank, providing an upper cut to exact size with no surplus lasting allowance, assembling said upper and insole with the edge attaching an outsole.

4. That improvement in methods of making welted shoes which comprises providing an upper having a lining and an outer layer and cut to exact size with no surplus lasting allowance, cementing a counter having an integral molded flange between the lining and the upper at the heel end thereof, providing an insole having a lasting rib about the periphery of its forepart and shank and having its heel end cut away, assembling said upper and insole with the edge of the upper even with said rib, securing said upper and rib together, subsequently inserting and fastening a reinforcing piece to the foot facing side of the insole at the heel end thereof, inserting a last in said assembly, securing the upper to the rib together with a welt by inseam stitching, and attaching an outsole.

MARTIN J. BILL.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent 2,265,671. November 5, 19111.

MARTIN J. BILL.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2, sec 0nd column, line 68, claim 1, for "and registering" read with--; and line '70, same claim, for "with" first occurrence, read and registering; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record 01 the case in the Patent Office,

Signed and sealed this 27th day of January, A. D. 19LL2.

Henry Van Arsdale Acting Commissioner of Patents. (Seal) 

